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Proms: BBC Philharmonic Plays Casella, Chopin, Franck & Saint-Saëns

Friday, August 15, 2014

Benjamin Grosvenor, pianist
(N/A)

The BBC Philharmonic and its conductor laureate, Gianandrea Noseda, appear at the BBC Proms, in works by Casella, Chopin, Franck and Saint-Saëns. The orchestra is joined by the young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor.

Casella's powerful Heroic Elegy, dedicated to the "unknown soldier," opens the concert and continues this year's Proms series of works written in the shadow of the First World War. Rising young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor joins the orchestra for Chopin's lyrical but virtuosic First Piano Concerto and, after the intermission, returns as soloist in Franck's Symphonic Variations. Saint-Saëns's thrilling journey from darkness to blazing light, the "Organ" Symphony, closes the program.

Presented by BBC Radio 3's Clemency Burton-Hill at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

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Comments [1]

Neil Schnall
from NJ

Once again: It is surprising, given how often this information is repeated on this very radio station (most recently just last week on Exploring Music), that this ignorance persists, or perhaps mere sloppiness. Chopin's Concerto #1 in E minor is not his "First" concerto. As with Beethoven, Chopin's piano concertos were published in the reverse order of composition. Therefore the first concerto is the Concerto #2. The Concerto #1 is the second concerto. Really not confusing if you think about it... but, I guess, therein lies the problem.

[Also, is there any suggestion that lyricism and virtuosity are construed as mutually exclusive? Why not "lyrical AND virtuosic" instead of "lyrical but virtuosic"?]